WEC Energy Group (WEC) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending June 30, 2023

August 1, 2023 2:00 p.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to WEC Energy Group's Conference Call for Second Quarter 2023 Results. This call is being recorded for rebroadcast, and all participants are in a listen-only mode at this time.

Before the conference call begins, I remind you that all statements in the presentation, other than historical facts, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that are subject to change at any time. Such statements are based on management's expectations at the time they are made. In addition to the assumptions and other factors referred to in connection with the statements, factors described in WEC Energy Group's latest Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated.

During the discussions, referenced earnings per share will be based on diluted earnings per share, unless otherwise noted. After the presentation, the conference will be open to analysts for questions and answers. In conjunction with this call, a package of detailed financial information is posted at wecenergygroup.com. A replay will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of this call.

And now it's my pleasure to introduce Gale Klappa, Executive Chairman of WEC Energy Group.

Gale Klappa

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we review our results for the second quarter of 2023. First, I'd like to introduce the members of our management team who are here with me today. We have Scott Lauber, our President and Chief Executive; Xia Liu, our Chief Financial Officer; and Beth Straka, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.

As you saw from our news release this morning, we reported second quarter 2023 earnings of $0.92 a share. After a down first quarter marked by one of the warmest winters on record, we delivered solid results in the second quarter and we're firmly on track for a strong 2023. Today, we're reaffirming our guidance for the year. The range is $4.58 to $4.62 a share. This, of course, assumes normal weather going forward.

As always, we're focused on the fundamentals of our business: Financial discipline, operating efficiency and customer satisfaction. During the second quarter, we also continued to move forward on our major initiatives, including the investments outlined in our $20.1 billion ESG progress plan. As we've discussed, the plan is based on projects that are low risk and highly executable. We expect to quadruple the amount of renewable generation for our regulated customers, add highly efficient gas field capacity to ensure reliability and continue to harden our delivery networks. Scott will provide you with more detail on several specific projects in just a moment.